We just purchased a 93 Accord w/103,000 miles on it. It runs great except when you are stopped and the steering wheel shakes constantly. It seems to be worse with the a/c on. It also does not shake at all while as soon as you accelerate. Any ideas? We were told that it could be an aftermarked motor mount causing the problem? Any other ideas? Thanks

 

It idles at about 800rpm. The steering wheel shakes a lot when you stop at a light. It shakes worse when the car is in gear. If you put it in park, the shaking subsides a little. It also seems to get a little worse with the A/C on.

 

To check for broken motor mounts. Get someone to sit in the car, hold the brake down, and put the car in gear forward and reverse, and give it a" little" gas. If the engine moves a lot, you could have a broken mount. If the motor mounts check out ok, you may need to clean your throttle body and idle control valve.

 

If this is an Automatic, you may have an issue with the rear motor mount. Unlike the others (which have a solid iso-mount) the rear mount utilizes metered vacuum from the intake manifold to activate a chamber in the mount which supports the engine at idle.
When this mount fails, the vibration is often worst in reverse; and can become violent enough that not only the steering wheels shakes, but I've actually seem a front bumper cover start falling off.

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Replace front/rear motor mount for sure. Does it vibrate more when cold weather is present?